The Oldest of Steve's Friends
by Jetainia
Summary: Steve had a friend once, a long time ago. MoD!Harry. Oneshot


Steve Rogers had a best friend, he'd had a couple over the years but he was closest to this one. They had met when Steve was in the middle of being ganged-up on; his friend had stepped in and stopped the group of boys. Steve hadn't even known his name but his friend had cleaned him up and acted as his sentinel for the rest of the day.

When they parted, his friend had said, "I'll see you around kid, the name's Harry by the way."

And Steve had seen Harry again; he had seen him practically every day since then. Currently, they had been friends for two years and now Harry was leaving. Harry was going to sign up with the army and join the fight. Steve didn't want him to go; too many people went to war and never came back for him to be happy about his best friend going to war.

Harry was determined though, so Steve said goodbye and good luck and watched as Harry left. He found another friend after a while, James Buchanan Barnes or 'Bucky'. He never forgot Harry and eventually tried to sign up with the army himself. He got in but he was definitely not the best soldier, then he met the scientist and his life was changed irrevocably.

Steve became 'Captain America' and fought against HYDRA, destroying everything that got in his way. He never found Harry though, his friend was always in the back of his mind and he was always unconsciously searching for best friend. Then he had to put the plane in the ocean with himself inside it and he stopped searching.

He woke slowly, warmth permeating his skin as he came too. An old game was playing on a radio and there was a nurse leaning over him, soothing him. She didn't answer his questions though, so Steve ignored her and ran out of the building, sirens following him as said building went into a panic. He halted at the sight that greeted him; there were lights, people and automobiles everywhere. There was a black man standing on the street looking at him, the man gestured back to the building in an invitation and said, "I'm sure you have a few questions for me, Captain Rogers."

The man introduced himself as SHIELD Director Nick Fury and told him what had happened, how he had been found in the ice and been revived, how he had been in the ice for seventy years. Everything and everyone he had known would be gone or severely aged. There was no point in trying to find Harry anymore and Peggy would be far too old for him now. He wished he'd never been found in the ice, that he'd never survived being frozen.

He soldiered on however, he would try to get used to this new world. A world in which he was apparently a legend, more than he'd been in his own time. It was only when he was on the run with Natasha, the Black Widow, that his past walked by him. They had been leaving the technology shop when someone who was the spitting image of Harry walked past.

He stumbled and turned to look, the doppelganger was standing in front of a book store, examining the books. Natasha pulled his arm, "Come on Rogers, we gotta go."

"But that's-"

"I don't care; unless you want to die I suggest we move."

"Yeah, sure," Steve let Natasha drag him away, still watching the Harry lookalike until he was out of sight.

Then they found the barracks, HYDRA attacked and Bucky Barnes was found and Steve forgot all about that one moment he saw his old best friend. Bucky appearing contributed to that, he had never expected to see his comrade and friend, most definitely hadn't expected to see him the as he had been seventy years ago.

SHIELD was gone, overtaken by HYDRA and Steve didn't quite know what to do. He had stopped HYDRA's main plan and he didn't want to fight the remaining factions. He was tired of fighting, for so long all he had wanted to do was help keep his country safe and now that was all he was doing. Was it asking too much for him to experience some peace?

He holed himself away in a small house in the countryside that Tony had given him when he had expressed a wish to get away. Now Steve spent his days indulging in his love for art, creating pieces with various modems and inspiration from his memories as well as the landscape he was in. The Avengers came to visit sometimes, mainly when they needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of being in the big city.

He still exercised daily, still ran every morning and night. He kept in shape as he knew that sooner or later they would come to reel him back in. If there was a problem and Captain America was needed, the world wouldn't hesitate to yank him out of his retreat and back into the war no matter what his wishes were.

As he drew, painted and crafted he found himself creating elements of Harry, the friend he had had and lost without really knowing why. He had looked at the old records of the war and had found no reference to his Harry ever fighting even though he had seen him in his fatigues with his own eyes. It was as if Harry had never existed.

Steve found himself making a long stick with little lumps going down the length of it, the stick that Harry had always fiddled with when he was nervous. He drew the pendant Harry had worn, a line inside a circle that was inside of a triangle. Occasionally he would draw Harry's face and the lightning bolt scar that his friend was always so self-conscious about would be the most prominent feature even when Steve tried to make it fade into the background.

Eventually the house was overrun by his creations that he started selling them, with Pepper's help as she knew what to do and Tony would have gotten too distracted by something or other. He started gathering fame for them, even though people had no idea that it was Captain America who had done them. They were in awe of the art and not the artist and that was one of the best things that Steve had ever known.

The call was made, as he always knew it would be, and Steve was forced to leave his new life and face down the monsters once again. The suit was waiting for him, the shield just waiting to be thrown and used for good once again. He sighed heavily but got ready, there were dragons to deal with.

It turned out dragon hide was impervious to pretty much everything, the Avengers only being successful when they aimed into the open maw of a dragon. Something that was highly hazardous as a dragon only opened its mouth to roar, shoot flame or try to gulp one of the team down. One of them had Tony in its mouth now and the rest of the team were frantically trying to free him until eventually a bolt of red light shot past Steve and straight into the dragon's eye.

The dragon roared and let go of Tony who flew away as fast as could to assess the damage caused. Steve turned to Wanda to let her know she had done well only to see her staring at someone else in shock. He followed her gaze and the battle ceased to exist as he saw Harry standing in the street looking fiercely determined as he stared at the dragons, his hair and cloak fluttering in the wind from the dragon's wings. In his hand he held his worry stick which he pointed at Steve, no behind Steve, and a bolt of the same red light shot out of it.

The pained cry from the dragon brought Steve back to the battle and he looked behind to see that one of the creatures had been about to attack him until Harry, _Harry_ , had stopped it. The fighting started again, dragons being forced to retreat as Harry fought in a whirlwind of manoeuvres somehow vanishing the dragons he had felled as he passed them.

In a matter of minutes, the dragons were gone and the Avengers were standing in an empty street. The rest of his team immediately surrounded Harry, weapons aimed as he stood there, seemingly expecting this reaction and doing nothing to stop it.

"Who are you?" Iron Man demanded.

Harry smiled, "You can call me Harry."

"How did you do that? Are you like me?" Wanda was barely concealing her excitement, though she was still wary enough of Harry that she didn't lower her hands.

"No, I'm not like you, not really. I am what came before you and have access to all magic not just that which is present in myself. Well done Wanda, for accepting it. It has been far too long since I met one such as you."

Clint drew back his bow, "How do you know her name?" he asked threateningly, Steve knew that he saw Wanda as family, their relationship closely resembling father and daughter.

Even so, Steve couldn't stand seeing all the weapons pointed at his friend, weapons that were ready to attack at the slightest aggravation. He pushed his way into the circle and said, "Clint," motioning for everyone to lower their weapons, "he's a friend."

Harry grinned at him, "Hey there kid, see you've grown up a bit."

"War does that to a person," Steve replied and the grin vanished to be replaced by a look of sorrow.

"I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

Tony decided he had enough of not understanding what was going on and demanded, "How do you know Cap? And why did you call him kid, he's way older than you, you're the kid around here."

"I'll have you know, Stark, that I am over a thousand year's old meaning that all of you are kids to me. As for how I know Steve, I knew him before he became Captain America."

Night had fallen and they were back at the tower, Harry had promised to teach Wanda how to use her gift to the fullest potential and had disappeared out onto one of the various balconies while the team was getting cleaned up. That was where Steve found him, on the highest balcony, the one Clint favoured, sitting calmly with his legs dangling off the edge.

Steve approached quietly and Harry began talking, knowing that Steve was there and waiting for answers. "I was a wizard once upon a time, though I didn't know I was for eleven years. I was famous in the Wizarding World and I didn't even know magic existed. They called me The-Boy-Who-Lived, because I didn't die when I was supposed to and saved them all from an evil tyrant.

"I was one and they all hailed me as their saviour when it wasn't me at all, it was my mother. I always thought it was stupid and hated the spotlight. When Voldemort, the evil wizard, came back they all turned to me to save them. Thinking that if I beat him once, surely I can do it again. It didn't matter that I was fifteen, I was the 'Chosen One', destined to save them all.

"I did defeat him, though I wouldn't have been able to do it without my friends. The only problem was, I had to die in order to make him vulnerable enough for him to be killed. So I died. And then, I came back because during my short life I had done something that so many wizards and witches had tried to do before me.

"I had found three objects that made me the 'Master of Death'. I was unable to die again after my first death and was stuck in my seventeen year old body while all my friends grew old around me. They're all gone now, the entire Wizarding World is gone, wiped out little by little until all that's left is people like Wanda.

"I can never die, Steve, that's why I left you. You were strong enough to survive on your own and I was getting too attached to you. I knew that if I didn't leave then, I would have stayed and have to watch you die. So I went to war, I fought and killed and then left when I felt I was no longer needed.

"There is only so much war I can go through at any one time, even if I am the Master of Death."

Steve sat on the ledge besides Harry and pulled him into a hug, offering comfort to his oldest friend, an assurance that he would be there as long as he could be. They stayed there for the rest of the night, Harry curled up in Steve's strong arms, letting his responsibilities and worries drift away as he relished being held by a friend who knew his deepest secret and didn't push him away.

Perhaps he would be able to have a family again, if only for a little while.


End file.
